


the night it blooms, in stars for you

by yourfriendlycupid



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Fix-It, Major Original Character(s), Minor Original Character(s), Post-Canon, Post-Canon Fix-It, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:14:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24013414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourfriendlycupid/pseuds/yourfriendlycupid
Summary: After the Battle on Exegol, Rey returns to Jakku when she finds herself struggling once again with loss, loneliness, and a sense of purpose. When becoming the new "Resistance Hero" did not bring her that closure she had hoped for, she returns to the endless plains of sand and dust, in the hopes of regaining a new purpose. Mysterious visions and voices haunt her dreams and fill her nightmares, tempting her with promises of things she had considered long gone. Meanwhile, the fight against evil is not over. With the loss of the dyad, the galaxy remains unbalanced, and threats begin to seep through the cracks of a fragile new world.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	1. homecoming.

**Author's Note:**

> hello all :) i've started writing this fic once before as purely a post-tros fix it sort of saga, but i scrapped that in favor of a more romantic angle. this is reylo after all. ;) i'm still going to include a post-tros fix it kind of narrative, but now with more sappy added in romantic plot. i hope you enjoy! this is technically my first fic so be nice pls <3

Dust filled the air as a Resistance freighter ship kicked up it's engines and hovered back towards the sky. On the ground, Rey watched the blue flames of the tail engine grow bright and hot, as they disappeared all together, and the ship raced off into light speed. Leaving her on the ground, in the hot sandy desert, BB-8 in tow. She squinted her eyes looking out at the horizon, the hot sun creating hazy waves throughout the sand. Jakku was the same barren wasteland, hot and dry, an endless sea of sand and dust. Planet by planet, the Resistance was gaining more and more control over the Galaxy, pushing the First Order out, but it was still a long and tedious journey. Jakku had just transferred it's controls from the junk lords, to a new facet of Resistance leaders. It was to be a new outpost for fueling supplies, and as it turned out, Jakku had quite a few natural mines of coaxium in the outer banks. 

With nowhere else to go, and after establishing a Jedi training workshop with Finn, old friend and newfound force user, Rey returned to the sandy planet in hopes of gaining a new sense of perspective. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy her new moniker, all of the constant attention and buzzing off to faraway planets as the fabled Jedi girl certainty kept her in good company. But along the way, Rey had begun to realize that still, people only saw her as one dimensional. There was no room for error, no room to grow, and although she found herself surrounded by friends, she continued to feel as though she was the only one in the room without a voice. She had misplaced it somewhere, she believed, and the only logical step was to go where it all began. On the hot sands of Jakku. 

It had been a little over a year since the battle with Palpatine on Exegol, and it's events left fresh scars on Rey's mind and heart, and unsure of her place in the world once again. She still struggled to overcome the idea that her birthright was among the foulest creatures in the galaxy, her parents; dead and lost to time, and the one thing that ever felt like home, or what she thought home felt like, was gone forever. Her friends would continue to fight in the Resistance, not stopping until the First Order and any remaining imperial remnants had fallen completely. It wasn't that Rey didn't want to help, she did, but her time managing strategic political outposts and half hearted attempts to train Finn didn't feel quite as genuine as she thought they would. In a lot of ways, she felt like a fraud. Luke was gone, Leia was gone, much of the upper ranks of the Resistance were gone, and everyone looked to her for guidance, despite being a new Jedi herself. She couldn't bring herself to continue fighting, not while everything had happened was still so fresh in her mind. Jakku was a good front, the new base there would allow for her to feign interest in maintaining the city, to help clear out the remaining junk bosses. It was easier than just disappearing altogether. 

"Why would you want to go back to that junk heap?" Finn would ask her, concern in his voice. Rey assured him, as well as her other friends it was only temporary. Though Finn could sense it, she had other reasons for returning to the planet she once called home. 

As her arrival was made known on Jakku, whispers filled the outpost. No one dared approach her, and her place here was different now. Rey was a Resistance "hero". The same Resistance that freed the indentured servants who had answered to junk bosses their whole lives, the same Resistance that promised freedom and prosperity from tyrannical rule. No longer the scrawny desert scavenger of her youth, Rey took a sense of pride in knowing she wouldn't be pushed around by a junk boss ever again. She passed by the hydration tents, catching the eye of a little girl, a small burlap doll clutched in her arms. The girl looked up at Rey with a sense of bewilderment and wonder and Rey thought to herself, how she wished she had someone brave to look up to when she was a small girl. She smiled down at the child, who excitedly bounced up and down, hugging the doll tighter to her chest. 

She made her way along the soft dunes, towards the ruins of a fallen AT-AT in the distance. The desert haze parted as the shape took clearer form. Now largely scavenged for parts, the main hull was still largely intact, and as Rey got closer, the sad grip of reality washed over her. This had been her home for so many years, but also her prison. Year after year she would count the days gone by in the giant heap of metal, and for the past three years, it lay waste in the desert sands of Jakku. Never did she think she would come to join it. Sensing her sudden change in attitude, BB-8 beeped quietly next to her. Rey gave it a pat on the head, and bounded towards the opening. 

She bent through the auxiliary hatch, with BB8 rolling after her. The door had been completely ripped off and replaced with a thin layer of canvas. It had been obvious that at some point, a Teedo had made it's home here, an old cotton blanket had been left on the ground along with several empty portion packages. However long ago it was here, it was gone now. The inside of the AT-AT was now only dimly lit with the suns light, reflecting a thick layer of dust along pieces of scrap metal and cooling units. Not much was left behind, the Y-Wing flight computer she had scavenged was long gone, along with any water barrels she had stored. The only thing left behind from her life here was the wool hammock Rey had weaved as a child. 

"Welcome home." Rey whispered to herself. BB-8 let out two small squeaks of sadness in response. 

No one knows what took place in that throne room on Exegol, not Rose, not Poe, and especially not Finn. No one knew about her lineage, her power, or the dyad. She was much too ashamed, terrified even to make mention of his name, let alone that she came from his stock. What would they think of her? Surely people would talk, and her greatest fear was that the newfound friends she had made would come to resent her all together. Or worse, they would never trust her again. No one knew of Ben Solo's sacrifice, and how it saved her, saved the galaxy. To the rest of the world, the monster, Kylo Ren was dead. And the Resistance rejoiced. It was supposed to be a happy resolution. A peaceful understanding to an end. But they were all wrong. 

She could hardly bear to think about him. Ben. The sad boy who grew up fighting demons in his mind, the son of a General, the nephew of a Jedi. Whenever her thoughts would wander to him, or his sad and tender expression, she felt a hole in her heart tear open, a wound being rehashed over and over again. And then she would feel stupid. Stupid for such childish, girlish thoughts. Sometimes she felt as though her own thoughts betrayed her. Palpatine had called them a dyad. A power in the Force unlike any ever seen before, a power greater than life itself and yet? She was here, he was not. And through it all, she hadn't really known him for that long at all. Perhaps it was just a fantasy, another glimmer of useless hope she would hold onto until the end of her days, just like the idea her parents were coming back for her. 

'Hope?' Rey thought to herself. 'This is supposed to be hope?' She looked around once more at the scrappy, dirty hovel she used to call a home, and then back down at the droid. 

"It wasn't supposed to be like this." she folded her arms around her body. A year. A year since she buried the legacy lightsabers, and restored balance to the galaxy. It was supposed to be her happily ever after. But why did she feel so empty inside? The Jedi had stopped answering her calls months ago, her meditations and attempts to reach out were fruitless. It was as if they only needed her to defeat Palpatine, restore and retrain new Jedi, and once that was done she was back on her own. Although she was resourceful and had completed her own training (building a lightsaber by herself, just like Luke had) there was an overwhelming sense of insecurity and imposter syndrome. Back on her own, she had no family, no direction, no sense of peace. But here, where it all started, she would begin to regain that direction. She would take what she had learned, knowing that there were people who did care about her, and she would make sense of all this. Pacing back to the hatch and sweeping the sheet of canvas to the side, Rey returned to the sand and looked back out to the sky. 

"I'm right back where I started." She mused, looking up to the hazy, setting sun. 

She had thought long and hard about her place in this world. With the Resistance, as a Jedi, but none of it seemed to make sense. She felt like she was being forced into these roles, given a name and a destiny, none of which she forged for herself. Just when she had thought she found herself, or at least the beginnings of it, it was taken away in an instant. A Palpatine. It was bad enough when she was a nobody, but to be the product of the most heinous man in the Galaxy was a fate she'd just rather not have. She would have much rather made her own legacy. Still, she had been going by Skywalker for some time, but as the weeks passed and turned into months, and as her connection to the Jedi began to fade, even that name seemed to fall away with the wind. Who was she really? It seemed almost laughable, that her, a barely trained Jedi could give herself the esteemed legacy of Skywalker. Especially when she watched the last of them die before her very eyes. 

Rey looked towards BB-8, clumsily rolling through the hatch and onto the sand. "Well I suppose this is going to be our home for a while, so we might as well make it comfortable." The droid beeped in agreement, and they started back towards the market outpost for some water, blankets, and perhaps a ration or two. 

\-----------------------------------

Night had fallen on Jakku, the winds ripped and roared through the sands, and Rey had the sense to weld a metal sheet where the canvas curtain had been, knowing full well the abrasive nature of a Jakku windstorm. The small lantern propped on a nearby storage crate began to dim, and Rey was sat up on the hammock reading an old Jedi text she had taken from Luke. She had spent hours perusing these texts, trying to make sense of it all. Most of it was written in basic, however there was still so much to cover, and a surprising amount was in languages she had never heard of. Luckily she had BB-8 to translate, but there were some alphabets even it could not decipher. The little droid was powered off on the other side of the room, and the desert outside was an eerie cacophony of howling winds and distant village sounds. The cool dry air breezed through the AT-AT like a ghostly lullaby. Rey leaned over to the lantern and blew out the remaining light, sinking back down into the dusty old hammock. Her mind wandered, to when she was just 10 years old, and had weaved it herself out of wool cast aside at Niima Outpost. She hardly knew what she was doing, an elderly woman in the village had taught her to weave blankets, she figured a hammock would be just as easy. Until then, she slept on the floor often cold and uncomfortable. She remembered the pride she had when hanging it up for the first time, sitting in it for the first time, sleeping in it for the first time. It wasn't much more comfortable than the floor, but it was hers. She had made it herself, she could survive. Though, she was much bigger now. 

She fluttered her eyes to the ceiling, and began to count the bolts in the metal sheets, holding it together. Just like she had done her whole life. She had imagined them each as little stars, tiny silver speckles in the night sky, all working together to keep her safe, keep her home standing. As a child and even a teenager, these thoughts had kept her hopeful. They made her feel less alone in such a big scary galaxy. As the smoke from the extinguished flame began to waft over her body, and as she breathed in it's familiar scent, her eyes began to droop shut. 

Zzzzzzzzzz……BANG! 

A bright flash of hot, white lightning struck hard and fast into a charred tree. It split and cracked open like a shell, and the smoke bellowed up towards the dark, grey sky. Rey felt her eyes burn from the bright impact of the flash, and though she tried to close them, she could not. Once the flashing faded, and all was left but smoke, Rey began to walk towards the tree, taking careful yet clumsy steps as she made her way through slick wet rock and grass. The world around her seemed hazy, dreamlike. The tree appeared to dance back and forth between the sparkles of rain, smoke and mist creating illusions of fluidity, though the tree was almost certainly dead. She approached it with caution, feeling drawn to it's core until she could see between the two split halves of the old oak, into the base of the tree. Inside were two bright, glowing white orbs gleaming brilliantly before her. She reached her hand forward to touch them when suddenly, as if being protected by an invisible force, Rey was pushed back violently, landing several feet backwards. 

She fell to the ground with a thud, and a maddening vibration began to resonate in her ears. It was a deafening buzzing, that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once, resonating as deeply in the ground as it did in her head. She awkwardly tried to muster the strength to stand, kneeling in the mud as she frantically looked around for it's source. Suddenly the buzzing grew so loud it filled her ears and shook her ribcage. She felt herself drop to the ground, and covered her ears. There was another bright flash of light, and she squeezed her eyes shut, and just before she could try and wake herself up, a voice called out. 

"I'll come back for you sweetheart, I promise." 

Rey's eyes flew open, as daylight returned to the sands of Jakku.


	2. a hero.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (*TRIGGER WARNING: SEXUAL ASSAULT IMPLICATIONS*) I just want to put a little note at the beginning of this chapter, there are implied mentions of sexual assault during Rey's "confrontation". When I first read the TFA novelization, when she speaks about Unkar Plutt, something about it to me just screamed red flags, especially as a SA survivor, so I feel like given the history of Hutts, it wasn't too off base to assume something like that could have happened.

As the sun rose over the horizon, Rey found herself wandering outside in a daze. The not yet scorching sands beneath her boots kicking up against her calves in the cool desert wind. Her mind raced with the image of a stark, powerful lightning strike against a tree. Of two glowing orbs, radiating their warmth and wobbling back and forth in the base of the tree. She could still feel their vibrations if she concentrated hard enough. The low humming reverberated in her stomach and stretched through her limbs. Rey had learned enough about the force to know when a dream was just a dream, and when it was something more. She stopped in the sand to ponder for a moment, going over every single detail in her mind, when she reached _that_ part of the dream. The one where she heard his voice.

She knew exactly whose voice it was, it was unmistakable to her. A voice she had heard so many times in her head ever since she was just a kid. That deep, smooth voice promising they would return. But no, it couldn't be. Rey shook her head, and clutched her chest, nails digging into her skin as they tugged at her shirt. She tilted her head to look back up at the rising sun, sending warm beams of light down to kiss her face. And she sighed a long, deep inhale.

She had resigned herself to the fact that he was dead. Whatever they had, whatever home she fantasized she could find in him, none of that mattered because he was dead. When he had finally mustered the courage to redeem himself, it was too late. Palpatine was dead, but in the end he had won. The last Skywalker was gone. And even if she had wanted to build a home with him, which she didn't, it was too late for that. Or at least that's what she kept telling herself.

Lost to thought and drenched in morning sun, Rey was suddenly interrupted by the sound of BB-8's round metal body rolling out of the AT.

" _Beep beep beep_!" the little droid called after it's companion. 

"Good morning to you too!" Rey smiled. The truth was she had grown quite fond of the little droid, and although it officially belonged to Poe, she liked to think it would choose her if it could. After all, it had volunteered itself to accompany her on this mission. 

The droid beeped excitedly, circling around Rey's feet. 

"No, I haven't eaten breakfast yet." 

If Niima Outpost was famous for one thing, it was it's Knockback Nectar. A strong alcoholic beverage that somehow managed to taste both like piss, and cactus juice. It was typically served to residents of Jakku in an oil can, but these days cantinas and bars had upgraded to carefully poured shots and glasses. And Rey had a hankering for a morning stiff. Niima had become a thriving village center, a far cry from the rugged old shack it once was. No longer the tense, dirty outpost of days past, the Resistance had cleaned it up a fair bit. The old Constable's office had been turned into a Resistance headquarters, and the center of the concession stand tent was turned into a lively outdoor cantina. Villagers were now trading in luggabeast parts and aside from the coaxium boom, they had made a fine little business out of upgrading the parts for a more efficient beast. Soon, it was assumed, Jakku could become a booming trade port of the Western Reaches. 

The cantina however, was Rey's favorite. Rather than weekly rations of dry bread powder, it served hot soups, Tuanulberry jam and best of all, a hearty rootleaf stew and pot roast. She figured the latter would fill her enough for at least half a day. 

After breakfast at the cantina, Rey returned with BB-8 back to her dwellings. Belly full of food, her mind returned to fixate on the night before. She just couldn't shake the feeling that it was important. For a quick moment, Rey had considered reaching out through the force to connect with the essence of her departed Master, Luke Skywalker. But she quickly chastised herself for the idea. It had been months since he responded. Sighing, she gazed around the cold and empty room. It was then that Rey's eyes drifted to a book on the floor. It was an old Jedi text she had brought back from Luke's hut, one of many, that she had been carrying around with her in her travels. Most of it was written in an ancient language, in fact of all the books she kept with her, this one she had read the least. But for some reason, today the glimmer of it's shiny silver leather had caught her eye. 

" _Beep beep beep beep_!" 

"Oh, right, yes," Rey said distractedly. "You can go recharge in my X-wing." 

The little droid rolled outside, as Rey waltzed over to the pile of books. Using the force, she commanded the silver one into her lap, sitting cross legged on the floor. She ran her hand over the iridescent binding and etchings, she had never noticed how it reflected in the light before. The front of the book had small stones embossed into the leather which had oddly looked as though they had been drained of all color. She drew a deep breath inward and opened the tome to no particular page. Dust kicked up into the air, as the smell of old parchment caressed her senses. Before her were pages of mysterious writing, and glorious pictures drawn in gold and black ink. 

Rey began to carefully turn the pages, searching for something, anything that would draw her attention. Mindlessly, she turned each page revealing confusing symbols and unintelligible notes in the margins which she gathered were handwritten by Luke. The monotony of page turning continued, as she struggled to understand the context of the texts when suddenly, she turned over the dusty old parchment to reveal a beautifully illustrated page of gold and silver ink. And a tree. An intricately designed tree with gnarled roots and branches reaching up and off of the page. Golden symbols and scripts written within the lines of it's bark and along it's extremities.

Mouth agape, she hovered her fingers over the image. Black swirls of ink formed the symbols of a language lost long ago, while the gold script continued throughout the body of the tree. There it was, the tree from her dream. There was no doubt. It's distinct shape was something Rey couldn't have just made up. It was a large, black tree with branches and roots that were gnarled and twisted. Though in her dream it had been split in half, she could now see it's true form. There was no mistaking it, this was the tree from her dream. Mesmerized, her fingers danced along the page, tracing the golden swirls along it's edges, weaving a beautiful song she tried desperately to hear. Following the swirls and patterns that seemed to be moving on their own, her finger followed to the center of the tree. 

With the pads of her finger, she could feel a difference in texture in the ink, just in the center of the tree. She ran her thumb across it once, then again. Curiously, she felt the rest of the page for any other such anomalies, but nothing stood out. Something was definitely stuck to the page, she thought. Squinting, she brought her face closer to the book, inspecting the small patch of lumpy ink at the center of the drawing. It looked as though someone had gone over with a thick black ink, or paint. 

' _Why would someone...?_ ' Rey thought to herself. 

Using her fingernail, she began to scratch at it, chipping away at old layers of ink that had been piled on thick. Little by little, she could see that there was something underneath it. Careful not to rip the page, she continued to etch away at the spot until it had been reduced to flaky crumbs she could wipe off onto the floor. Revealing what was underneath, her eyes blinked wide open and her breath hitched in her throat. 

Beneath the defacement, two silver foiled stars were printed onto the page, just at the center of the tree. Rey could feel her head spin. The shimmering star shapes at the center of the drawing seemed to glow brighter and brighter, their luminesce melting throughout the parchment and into the gold ink and symbols. It was as if the page had come alive. The branches of the trees lit up like fireflies, the roots glowed like a warm hearth. Elegant and beautiful lights livened up her vision, the brightest lights in the center merging to become one. 

Suddenly a warm wave of force rushed over her. Rey closed her eyes and remembered the two glowing orbs, sitting there in the tree. They were buzzing and humming, almost singing. Their language secret to man and known only to each other. The image of golden swirls and tendrils filled her mind, and her body, but unlike the night before, this time it was warm. This time it was bright and brilliant. It felt like home. And for a moment, Rey felt completely at peace with herself. She opened her eyes, and to her dismay, the metallic swirls and beautiful lights had faded, it was as if the page had never come to life at all. The branches of the tree were bare once more. 

Desperate for more answers, Rey flipped the page again, revealing even more confusing illustrations and diagrams. However, on this page, it was clear that Master Luke had written and annotated quite a bit. His handwriting was all over the page, crossing things out and filling things in. She furrowed her brows at the page, making connections between the ancient language and Luke's notes. From what she could gather from this, the tree from the previous page was known as a Uneti tree, an ancient force tree that grew in a Jedi temple until it was destroyed. Within the margins of the page, Luke had sketched out two sapling branches and written "recovered" next to them. It was then Rey had noticed two locations written beneath the sketch. 

" _Ach-To_  
_~~Yavin 4~~ (destroyed)_"

_Ach-To_ , Rey thought, the island that Luke Skywalker had retreated to as a disgraced Jedi, the island she had traveled to, in order to return his lightsaber and convince him to return. Although it wasn't exactly clear, Rey assumed immediately that this means there must have been an Uneti tree on Ach-To. There had to be. Heart fluttering, she continued to read her Master's notes, her eyes darting around the page as she tried to take in every morsel of information she could. Luke had sketched two smaller trees on the adjacent page, with arrows pointing to small, crudely drawn seeds that had been designed to appear as if they were glowing. However, one had been crossed out. But it wasn't the drawing that had captured Rey's attention. It was what was written underneath. 

" _A dyad in the force. ~~The two~~ Two that are one._"

Rey gasped as those words echoed back at her, the words once spoken to her by Emperor Palpatine on Exegol. Her mind flashed to that moment, as she was suspended in the air, unable to move as Palpatine unleashed his horrific power onto her, _onto him_. His voice seared into her mind, and it was a mocking, evil voice. 

" _A power greater than life itself._ " he would laugh. Just before he would fling them into the ground, and destroy them. Rey's heart leapt into her throat as she tried to swallow. 

It was then that BB-8 came rushing into the AT, beeping frantically as it rolled over the bolted metal, causing Rey to jump in her seat. 

"Cripes Beebee! You scared me!" she gasped, steadying to her feet. 

" _Beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep_!" The little droid rolled around in circles hurriedly, beeping louder.   
  
"What do you mean 'we have a problem'?" 

\----------------------------------

Rey found herself racing towards Niima Outpost, kicking up sand as she went. Her round companion followed her, beeping frantically as it tried to keep up. As she approached, she could hear commotion in the distance, and smoke bellowed up on the horizon. 

_What in the Great Maker?_ Rey thought to herself. 

As she approached closer, she could see just what all the commotion was about. Resistance fighters, holding their ground against a local gang, holding the newly reformed village hostage. The gang, she presumed, was remnants of what was once probably part of Unkar Plutt's chain of command. After all, he was the most powerful junk boss on Jakku at one time. With the new Resistance reforms coming in, him and his law had been pushed out to the deepest badlands of the planet. Though it seemed they had underestimated the arms race in the Western Reaches, and the ability for a gang of junk bosses to acquire them. Pistols were drawn, as locals cowered behind water tanks and luggabeasts, some held hostage in the arms of unsavory characters. 

Rey made sure to keep herself hidden as she approached, hiding behind a small building of latrines. Reaching out through the force, she allowed herself to assess the situation. From what she could tell, there were about 30-35 gang members surrounding a band of 15 Resistance fighters, and 32 locals. Inside the cantina, she could sense four human individuals with a strong fear signature. Hostages, she thought. There was another presence who she sensed. A familiar, stinky and slimy presence of days past. 

"You got no place taking what's ours." a gravely sounding voice shouted from inside the frey. 

"The Resistance only aims to bring peace-" 

"The Resistance! Pah! First Order, Resistance, they're all the same. The New Republic failed and so will you." 

Voices sneered in agreeance as the gravely male continued. "Jakku belongs to us and the junk!" 

Rey could hear the gang cheer. 

Rey carefully listened to the situation, creeping from behind the latrines. BB-8 squeaked in concern behind her. 

" _Shhh_!" she whispered. "Hang tight, I'll be right back." The droid lowered it's antenna in response, and rolled backward. 

Creeping quietly closer towards the center of the commotion, Rey could see Resistance members with their blasters drawn at junk criminals who were armed to the teeth with weapons. Guns, staves, knives, and bombs, it was no wonder locals were cowering behind buildings and broken speeders. For a moment Rey wondered what it would have been like, if she had been the one cowering behind the barrels. 

"Sir, we must ask that you stand down." a man in an orange uniform stepped forward, blaster drawn. The Resistance emblem was sewn onto his jacket. 

A large grey creature with deeply set eyes and a wide frog like mouth chuckled dryly and held up his gun. He was the gravely voiced man from before. 

"The Resistance can kiss my-" he started, but before he could finish, a shot was fired. A newly trained Resistance recruit, shaking in his boots, fired the first shot. Before anyone knew it, blaster fire was being exchanged from both sides. 

Rey didn't even have to think, immediately her saber was ignited and she had jumped straight into the fray. Dodging blaster pellets, she made her way to the center of the struggle, where another frog-liked man was engaged with a Resistance ranger. He was on top, a hooked shiv only a few inches from the ranger's face. But Rey was quick, and as quick as she had seen them, her saber had already been deployed through his abdomen. She retracted, and his slimy body rolled onto the floor. The ranger looked up at her, star-struck. 

To her left, she noticed a few more rangers attempting to break into the barricaded cantina, where she remembered 4 villagers were being held hostage. They slammed old crates against the door, to no avail. Four of them had managed to pick up a large shipping barrel, and began to ram it into the door which had been sealed shut from the inside. Each pound against the door was received with a heavy thud and puff of dust, though the door remained unmoving. Rey took a look around, making sure the other fighters could hold their own before deciding to help break down the door. 

"Move!" she shouted. "Out of the way!" Rey approached the door, guiding them off to the side and igniting her saber once again. The golden beam crackled in her hands, as she lifted it up against the cantina door. Almost like moon-butter, the steel melted to her whim as she began to carve her own entryway. When she finished, she kicked it in and the metal hit the ground in a jarring crash to the ground. Dust kicked up around them, and then, silence. Rey turned to look at the Resistance team and give a nod, she would be going in alone. They nodded nervously, and scurried away back into the fight. 

Rey stepped into the cantina. It was hazy, dim, and aside from the low jazzy tune that had been playing behind the bar it was quiet. Almost too quiet. 

Immediately, a shot was fired from across the room, and like clockwork, Rey reached out her hand to stop it, immediately redirecting it to where it came from. A Quarren, squid-faced man, shouted in pain and fell to the floor. The battle inside was on. Lowly ranking junk gangers rushed her with knives and guns, but they were no matched for the spritely Jedi. In a dance of wills, Rey skirted around the room, eliminating each of her foes until they all lay writhing on the ground. When the dust settled, a croaky laugh erupted from the end of the room. 

Rey shot her eyes to the booth at the far end of the cantina. Four elders of the village were tied up on the ground, their worldly possessions and status clothing piled on top of the table. She recognized them, the elders who upheld the traditions of the Old Jakku, and kept the people together. She remembered some from her childhood, the ones who weren't dead anyway. They would tell stories by firelight, tales of Jakku before the wars, tales of big forests and evergreens. They looked up at her in fear and awe now. 

A figure stood up from the, and made it's way into the light. Rey knew this stench. She stared in contempt as his big, blobby body slithered closer to her. 

"Long time no see, sweetheart." the blobfish said cooly. 

"Plutt." Rey retorted. 

"I see you got yourself a new shiny toy there." he said, pointing to her lightsaber. "Would pay quite a pretty penny for it's parts. How many portions do you think that's wroth?" he taunted. 

"Worth much more than you." she spat. 

The blobfish, known as Unkar Plutt laughed a gurgled a laugh, and smirked down at her. 

"I see you've forgotten where you came from. Who raised you." 

"You didn't raise me." Rey snapped. "I was just nimble fingers to reach the smallest gears and parts you could sell." 

"I gave you protection, girl." his dark orbs flashes. 

Rey swallowed hard. "Protection? Is that what you call that?" Something dark inside of her stirred, as she reminisced on her childhood. "I'd hardly call what you did to me protection." 

Her time on Jakku was difficult. It was true, Unkar Plutt had use for her as a child. Her small little fingers could reach into even the tiniest of cracks and pull out just about anything. But as she got older, her value decreased. And Plutt's protection was conditional. Rey had become just like any other scavenger on Jakku, lanky and dirty. In order to guarantee her safety, Plutt needed to find other uses for Rey and well, she was very, very pretty. 

Rey found herself now, face to face with the being she thought she'd be rid of forever. Though now, she was a little older, a little wiser, and had faced foes far worse than Unkar Plutt. 

"I should have left you to die in the sand." he growled, advancing on her with a Scimitar. 

"And I should leave you there now." Rey swung her lightsaber, cutting through the curved steel blade. 

"Is this what they call Jedi?" he sneered. Rey stepped closer. "Have the Jedi not been ones for peace and prosperity?"

She stepped closer, still.

"Restore balance to the galaxy, is it? If you kill me, what will you be?" Plutt's eyes twinkled mischievously. Rey stopped.

"Go ahead, kill me. What does that say about you?" his words echoed another, a voice Rey had long since compartmentalized and tucked way back into her head. But she would not be intimidated by him, not this time, not ever again. 

All at once, Rey disengaged her lightsaber, and swiftly spun around in a roundhouse kick to the head, knocking the old Hutt unconscious. 

"You do not get to decide who I'll be." Rey said quietly, and stepped out of the cantina. "He's inside. You can arrest him now."

Several Resistance offers rushed inside as Rey returned to the battle. Blaster lasers shot back and fourth, and Rey weaved in and out, her golden light stopping each one. She danced and twirled around them, blocking every shot. There was something quite beautiful about it all, she thought, the chaos, the balance within the chaos, how the light would always rise up to beat it. Each movement played off the other rhythmically, as if time itself had slowed down. 

Usually when she fought, she let her mind go blank. There was only peace, there was only the force. But something felt different. A new fire was sparked inside of her that day. There was still peace, there was still the force, but it was louder than ever, like an echo chamber inside her body bouncing back and forth, reverberating every moment. It was as if a power that was not quite her own was moving through her, allowing her to see all sides of the situation. The fire inside her belly had been small at first, but it grew that day, burning away old blocks and bondages, turning them to ash as she would rise above. She was free. And with that fire, she would persevere. She would use it, as her driving force not just to protect others, but herself as well. It gave this dance life. 

When it was all over, the Resistance had won, and took the surviving gang members into custody. Returning from their hiding places, the villagers came out to cheer. Finally now, they were free too. The hostages were returned to safety along with their belongings, and everyone let out a collective sigh of relief knowing that the junk bosses of Jakku would be no more. Soon, Rey was surrounded by people thanking her and praising her. Though she had hardly gotten used to things like this, there was something about the fact that this was all happening on Jakku, that made it all the more surreal. Faces she had seen and recognized since childhood, who would normally just stare back at her, were now walking up to greet her. The Resistance ranger she had saved earlier patted her on the back and thanked her by name. She knew her act of heroism would be sent back to the Resistance base where the others were, though she silently wished it wouldn't. Praise and lofty titles didn't matter to Rey. But it was the smiles, the smiles of the people and the hope in their eyes that fueled Rey. That is what made her proud of herself. It was moments like these, where she felt that fleeting sense of belonging. She was no scavenger anymore, she was no jedi teacher, she was no politician, but here, she was a hero. 


End file.
